Best of 2019

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Another year gone by in a blink. Let’s refresh our memories and relive the best of 2019 – as far as our taste buds are concerned. What were your favorites?

I posted 126 times this year, which is only one less than last year. Funny cause in 2018 I felt like I was slacking while this year I felt like I was nonstop with all those festive foodie events. I did revamp a decent amount of old posts this year so maybe that’s why I feel like I did more than that. Technically I did they just weren’t NEW posts. In fact, part of my plan for 2020 is to take the saying “hindsight is 2020” literally by working on spiffying up a lot more of my old posts. I have over 9 years of content guys! Surely you haven’t seen it all so it’s worth revisiting them.

Other than recipes, 2019 was full of tiring, not so wonderful things, but a few great things to keep us going. We moved into our first home, paid for two places longer than expected, dealt with water leaking into our basement (déjà vu), traveled to Italy, Bob had shingles, my car was totalled and thus had to buy a new one, my mom was in the hospital for a long time (unfortunately she’s still not 100%), spent a lot of money on pet vet visits, had several visits from friends and family, attended various local events, both had our fair share of work related travel, went home to Rochester, NY for Thanksgiving and Bob’s sister’s baby shower, and now we are in LA for my brother’s 40th birthday, Star Wars, and Christmas! Ending on a high note.

But enough about that, let’s count down starting with the reader top 10! Followed by my own top 10 list because sometimes the best things don’t go viral. If you’re into lists, you can check out my Instagram profile to see my #topnine2019 HERE.

BEST OF 2019 – READER FAVORITES

10. Vegan Scrambled Tofu with Sweet Potato & Kale Hash – This was one of the first recipes posted in 2019! Definitely and instant favorite in our house and has become a staple in rotation for breakfast.

9. Sally’s Sugar Cookies – For Halloween I made cookies inspired by Sally from A Nightmare Before Christmas and they turned out great! Would be fun to make with kids too.

8. Chocolate Gooey Butter Cake – Gooey butter cake of any flavor is a definite favorite. It combines my love of cheesecake with a cookie/cake-like base and couldn’t be easier to make.

7. No-Bake Peanut Butter & Jelly Pie – Childhood favorite in pie form. Peanut butter pie is one of my favorite pies of all time so adding jelly was a no brainer.

6. Geode Cookies – These definitely would have my my own top 10 list on appearances alone. They are so stinking pretty! And honestly, they lend themselves to error so they are almost foolproof.

5. Macaroni & Cheese Pierogi – Anything stuffed with macaroni and cheese is a winner and when the things being stuffed are pierogi it’s no surprise that these made the top 10. What more could you ask for?

4. Chewy Sweet Corn Cookies – I am so thrilled that you all appreciated these as much as I did. These corn cookies are sweet and salty, buttery and chewy. If you haven’t tried them yet you must!

3. Cinnamon Pecan Snowball Cookies – These festive cookies quickly rose to the top after bring posted only a little over a month ago. Clearly my timing for your holiday baking plans was impeccable. All I did was add cinnamon to a classic pecan snowball but it made all the difference. Which begs the question, how was cinnamon not normally in these cookies?

2. Easy Baked Gnocchi with Italian Sausage – Need an easy weeknight meal? Heck this would be a great dish to serve at the holidays as well! Cook up some Italian sausage, toss with gnocchi and pasta sauce, layer with cheese and bake!

1. Fluffernutter Pie – Skip the sandwich bread and turn that fluffernutter into a pie! As the second sandwich inspired pie on the list, this is a peanut butter lovers dream, complete with a nutter butter crust.

BEST OF 2019 – MY FAVORITES

(that didn’t already make your list)

10. Slow Cooker Vegetarian Buckeye Chili – I had a really hard time narrowing it down from 11 to 10. #11 ended up being my Peach-Basil Coffee Cake simply because I’ve already made this chili three times. I love my dad’s chili most but if I’m looking to consume less meat this is my go-to.

9. Red Velvet Thumbprint Cookies – I made these early in 219 but they still stick out in my mind. Like little bites of red velvet cake with an extra helping of pecan on top.

8. Cashew Cream Parfaits – To pair with the vegan tofu scramble, if you’re looking for another vegan option these cashew cream parfaits are crazy good.

7. Chorizo Taco Pizza with Cilantro Sauce – I haven’t been making very many creative pizzas these days as I have in the past, but this was a clear winner. It was actually a recreation of a pizza special that was at Paulie Gee’s awhile back.

6. Cinnamon Brown Sugar Cookies – I have made these cookies so many times. They are just like my chewy sugar cookies but with brown sugar and cinnamon (and other spices) making them the perfect fall/winter sugar cookie option. Especially when it came to making ice cream sandwiches with Indulgence ice cream seasonal flavors to be served at The Kitchen.

5. Black Pepper Ice Cream with Strawberry Chia Jam – As strange as this ice cream sounds, I’ve actually made it twice and have surprised many people by convincing them to try it. The warm heat of the peppercorns infused into the ice cream pairs exceptionally well with the sweet strawberry jam.

4. Cheesecake Buckeyes – I think I said this when I made the peanut butter cookie dough buckeyes, but these are my new favorite buckeye. They are so dang creamy and rich, and yet seem slightly less sweet and thus less like eating candy and more like eating a bite sized dessert. A bite sized buckeye cheesecake if you will.

3. Chicken & Sausage Gumbo – This was my first time making gumbo and it most definitely will not be my last. It was a bit more labor than I anticipated, requiring 30 minutes of constant stirring to make the roux, but damn did it pay off.

2. Roasted Butternut Squash Stew – This kitchen-sink like stew was the result of recreating an incredible delicious stew I had at The Kitchen here in Columbus. I loved it so much I ordered a second serving and proceeded to ask the specifics of what was in it.

1. Lemon Cookies with Caramelized Milk Jam – These cookies blew my mind. The milk jam took an hour to make! But it was well worth it and I would absolutely make these again.